Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Gabriella: Hello, and welcome back to TurkishClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 12, Can you eat this Turkish meatball? I’m Gabriella.
Feyza: Merhaba. And I’m Feyza!
Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask if something or someone is okay, or able to eat or drink something. This is quite important because there are a lot of people with food allergies or who dislike certain tastes.
Feyza: And Turkish dishes often have different seasonings and ingredients!
Gabriella: So if you're one of those people with allergies, pay even more attention!
Feyza: Our conversation takes place at Hakan’s house.
Gabriella: And it’s between Hakan and our Turkish couple, Merve and Bora. The speakers know each other well from before, so they use informal language. Ok, let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Bora: Bu nedir?
Hakan:Bu, balık köftesidir.
Merve: Balık köftesi?
Hakan: Evet, Karadeniz yöresinin yemeğidir. Balıktan yapılır. Et yersin değil mi?
Merve: Evet ama sadece balık eti!
Hakan: (laughs) İyi, iyi... Ucuz kurtulduk...
Gabriella: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Bora: Bu nedir?
Hakan:Bu, balık köftesidir.
Merve: Balık köftesi?
Hakan: Evet, Karadeniz yöresinin yemeğidir. Balıktan yapılır. Et yersin değil mi?
Merve: Evet ama sadece balık eti!
Hakan: (laughs) İyi, iyi... Ucuz kurtulduk...
Gabriella: Now, let’s hear it with the English translation.
Bora: Bu nedir?
Bora: What's this?
Hakan:Bu, balık köftesidir.
Hakan: This is fish meatball.
Merve: Balık köftesi?
Merve: Fish meatball?
Hakan: Evet, Karadeniz yöresinin yemeğidir. Balıktan yapılır. Et yersin değil mi?
Hakan: Yes, it's a dish from the Black Sea Region. It’s made of fish. You eat meat right?
Merve: Evet ama sadece balık eti!
Merve: Yes but only fish!
Hakan: (laughs) İyi, iyi... Ucuz kurtulduk...
Hakan: (laughs) Well well... That was close....
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Gabriella: So I hear that there are differences in terms of lifestyle among the seven regions.
Feyza: Indeed, you’ll notice big differences in lifestyle, culture, geography, humor, and of course cuisine.
Gabriella: It’s always nice to see variety! And learning more about local cuisine is interesting. What's the major difference between the cuisines?
Feyza: I would say, uniqueness.
Gabriella: Can you explain that a little?
Feyza: Sure - the variety of cuisines is not just about different versions of the same recipe flavored with different seasonings.
Gabriella: So, each local dish has a unique recipe?
Feyza: Exactly! For example, the Aegean has a lot of olive trees. So almost everything is eaten or cooked with olive oil.
Gabriella: Oh yes, braised artichokes in Spring! And stuffed vine leaves are the best!
Feyza: Yes, zeytinyağlı enginar and yaprak sarma respectively. They're pretty famous! The first one is very healthy!
Gabriella: So how about the Marmara region, where Istanbul is located?
Feyza: That’s quite eclectic. The fundamental ingredients are from the Ottoman court cuisine.
Gabriella: That means black pepper-seasoned lamb, mastic-flavored meat dishes, milk-based desserts served with rose water, and syrup-based ones in delicate layers of dough...mmm, these sound so yummy! And of course, let’s not forget the famous yoghurt.
Feyza: Did you know "yoghurt" is a loanword from Turkish?
Gabriella: Yeah! How do you say it in Turkish?
Feyza: Yoğurt
Gabriella: There’s the soft g in the middle, right?
Feyza: That’s correct.
Gabriella: So how do you eat yoghurt in Turkey, Feyza?
Feyza: First of all, we never eat sweetened yoghurt in meals. You’ll be shocked to see some people eating rice with yoghurt topping.
Gabriella: Wow, that’s a surprise. Do you have dishes made out of yoghurt as well, or is it only consumed as a topping?
Feyza: Yes, we have a side dish. It's a salad-drink made of yoghurt, cucumbers, garlic, and water.
Gabriella: Fascinating. What do you call it?
Feyza: Cacık
Gabriella: It sounds refreshing. Before we get too hungry, let’s look at the words and phrases in this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Gabriella: The first word we shall see is...
Feyza: balık [natural native speed]
Gabriella: fish
Feyza: balık [slowly - broken down by syllable] balık [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Feyza: köfte [natural native speed]
Gabriella: meatball
Feyza: köfte [slowly - broken down by syllable] köfte [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Feyza: Karadeniz [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Black Sea
Feyza: Karadeniz [slowly - broken down by syllable] Karadeniz [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Feyza: yöre [natural native speed]
Gabriella: vicinity
Feyza: yöre [slowly - broken down by syllable] yöre [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Feyza: et [natural native speed]
Gabriella: meat (fish, cattle, ovine, poultry)
Feyza: et [slowly - broken down by syllable] et [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Feyza: iyi [natural native speed]
Gabriella: good
Feyza: iyi [slowly - broken down by syllable] iyi [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Feyza: ucuz [natural native speed]
Gabriella: cheap
Feyza: ucuz [slowly - broken down by syllable] ucuz [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Feyza: kurtulmak [natural native speed]
Gabriella: get rid of, discard
Feyza: kurtulmak [slowly - broken down by syllable] kurtulmak [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Gabriella: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. So Feyza, I guess our first word is a noun phrase. Let’s hear it from you.
Feyza: That’s right Gabriella. It’s Karadeniz bölgesi.
Gabriella: As far as I know, the "Black Sea Region" is located in the northern part of Turkey, right?
Feyza: That’s correct as well. It's one of the 7 geographical regions of Turkey, and it borders the Black Sea, of course.
Gabriella: The famous Turkish Black Sea anchovies and hazelnuts come from that region.
Feyza: Yes, and it’s a hotspot for local tourists. It has foggy plateaus, local cuisine famous for different fish, mushroom, and cheese dishes, attractive fauna, rivers available for rafting, and much more...
Gabriella: Oh sounds great! In addition to this, some of Turkey’s regions are divided into various sub-regions. Let’s name the ones that are related to the Black Sea Region.
Feyza: For sure! Batı Karadeniz Bölgesi
Gabriella: "Western Black Sea Region"
Feyza: Orta Karadeniz Bölgesi
Gabriella: "Middle Black Sea Region"
Feyza: Doğu Karadeniz Bölgesi
Gabriella: "Eastern Black Sea Region."
Feyza: With our second word comes a controversial debate!
Gabriella: As our listeners might already know, what's considers to be "meat" can vary a lot in different languages.
Feyza: For instance, in Turkish, the flesh of fish is a type of meat.
Gabriella: But what do you call meat in Turkish, Feyza?
Feyza: Very simple. Et.
Gabriella: This word corresponds both to "meat" and "flesh," and it can be of any living creature. Let’s give some examples!
Feyza: Keçi eti
Gabriella: "Goat meat."
Feyza: Kuzu eti.
Gabriella: "lamb."
Feyza: Koyun eti.
Gabriella: "Mutton"
Feyza: Dana eti
Gabriella: "beef"
Feyza: Pay attention to this one! Balık eti
Gabriella: "fish"
Feyza: Tavuk eti.
Gabriella: "Chicken."
Feyza: Our listeners will find more examples in the lesson notes.
Gabriella: Feyza, I wonder how other seafood like shrimp, octopus, or mussels are considered… Are they also labeled as meat?
Feyza: Well, they are usually referred to by their names. For example, karides is "shrimp" and ahtapot is "octopus."
Gabriella: You said "usually."
Feyza: Yes, because the same rule is true for them as well. You'll also hear, ahtapot iyi pişmiş, eti yumuşak.
Gabriella: Oh, I see. It means, "The octopus was cooked well. The meat of it is soft." And our final word is…
Feyza: İyi
Gabriella: "Good"
Feyza: It’s a conditional adjective that can apply to a lot of contexts.
Gabriella: Yes, I hear this a lot. I guess Turkish people say it when they're generally feeling good, right?
Feyza: Yes, that’s the most generic meaning. You can simply say, İyiyim
Gabriella: Meaning, "I'm good."
Feyza: You can also use iyi when you approve of something.
Gabriella: Imagine that you recently dyed your hair red. You see a friend and she says…
Feyza: İyi olmuş! Yakışmış!
Gabriella: "It’s good. It suits you!"
Feyza: Our listeners should check the lesson notes for different examples of iyi.
Gabriella: Perfect! Let’s move on with the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the indicative form in Turkish.
Feyza: It’s Bildirme kipi in Turkish.
Gabriella: It's used to make a clear, definite statement.
Feyza: And of course, the indicative exists as a suffix in Turkish.
Gabriella: Let’s hear them!
Feyza: dir, dır, dur, and dür
Gabriella: The change is due to vowel harmony rules, I assume.
Feyza: That’s right!
Gabriella: Let’s give some examples.
Feyza: Bu kedi-dir.
Gabriella: "This is a cat."
Feyza: Bu bir kitap mıdır?
Gabriella: "Is this a book?"
Feyza: Hayır, bu bir kitap değildir.
Gabriella: "No, it's not a notebook."
Feyza: As you can see, this suffix is always attached to the end of the sentence to give a stronger emphasis.
Gabriella: And it comes last in order of the suffixes that are attached to the verb as well. One last thing is that the vowel harmony rules affect the first consonant and second vowel of the indicative suffix altogether. Hmm, it’s hard to picture that. Can you talk about it a little more Feyza?
Feyza: (Please read the Turkish and English of each consonant.) Sure. When the last word of the sentence ends in one of the following consonants - f, s, t, k, ç (which is c with a sidila), ş ( which is s with a sidila), h, p, and d, the suffixes dır, dir, dur, and dür change into tır, tir, tur, and tür.
Gabriella: This is called consonant harmony, right?
Feyza: Yes, as you can see, the consonant at the beginning of the suffix hardens. d becomes t.
Gabriella: Okay, let’s see this in an example.
Feyza: O bir mühendis-tir.
Gabriella: "He is an engineer."
Feyza: s at the very end of the noun mühendis, meaning "engineer," is one of the consonants we just listed.
Gabriella: That’s why the initial consonant of the suffix, which should be d, changes to t.
Feyza: That’s right!
Gabriella: Keep in mind that the indicative form is also called the book form, because of its absolute, informative emphasis.
Feyza: That’s why it’s only natural to cut it out in your daily conversation.
Gabriella: Oh, I didn’t know that, how so?
Feyza: For example, Bu bir ayva.
Gabriella: "This is a quince."
Feyza: You can also say, Bu bir ayvadır. However, in daily language the mimics and gestures are also a source of emphasis.

Outro

Gabriella: That’s true! Well listeners, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you in the next lesson
Feyza: Hoşçakalın!
Gabriella: Bye!

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